Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 432: Mark Breslin

In this 432nd episode, Mike chats with Yuk-Yuk's co-founder Mark Breslin about being an older first-time father, the humble beginnings of Yuk-Yuk's and the many famous comics he has booked. This episode is exactly 1:20:31.

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Very entertaining episode and well worth the wait. Great stories and delivery.
This fella will go far in the very near future, no doubt!! One major bone of
contention: I saw Dustin Diamond, a.k.a. "Screech" from "Saved By the Bell"
at Yuk Yuk's over fifteen years ago and he was a trainwreck, in a very unfunny
Andy Kaufman/Tony Clifton, anti-comedy kind of way. Sure, laughter is in the
ears of the beholder, but he was certainly one D-list celebrity not worth the
price of a ticket!!

On a related note, in another slightly happier life I crapped out at Y.-Y.'s Amateur
Night on several different occasions. The last time Mr. Breslin took me aside
and told me an interesting observation. Being the funniest person in the room
is not necessarily the same thing as being a comedian on stage, I guess I took
his advice to heart, 'cause I haven't been back since! P.S., he also told me that
my material was TOO JEWISH!!! Pretty rich coming from a fellow member of
the tribe, and it certainly didn't hurt the likes of J. Seinfeld, H. Mandel or Joan
Rivers. Although he might be on to something in a post-Russell Peters comedy
world (who is totally not my cup of tea!!).

I'm impressed you had the courage to try amateur night at Yuk Yuk's, I certainly couldn't do it and I find myself pretty funny. Although these days I've been accused of dad humour which is really disheartening.

I LOVE Yuk Yuk's! I've seen Russell Peters there multiple times, Mike Macdonald, Mike Bullard (wasn't a fan), Mitch Hedberg, and many more! I haven't been since they moved from uptown to downtown. Not since we had kids.

Incidentally, last year we caught Jeremy Hotts at Rama. He was great! I remember seeing him years ago at that comedy club that used to be under the Holiday Inn on King St. (Laugh Factory?) also saw Debrah DiGiovanni and Margaret Cho there.

@Al The Royal Pain
Thanks for the tip of the hat, but I'm pretty sure that courage had absolutely nothing to do
with my rather feeble attempts at grabbing some laughs on amateur night. I'd like to think
of it more as an OCD-like compulsion, but my overall general unease with that kind of setting
prevented me from going back there another 666 times, or at least until I nearly got it right!! Pity, really, as humour has primarily been one of the few ways I've managed to connect with people on
any kind of continuous level.

@Al The Royal Pain
Repetition is this Aspie's best and only friend, but I'm just so uncomfortable in bars/clubs etc,,
that it really gets in the way of the performance. I looked into again a few years ago and the whole
thing just seemed far too mercenary, even on a basic amateur level. It seemed as though many
of the far younger comics were all angling for Just For Laughs appearances/TV specials,
acting work and the like. Very, very hard to get regular time as slots are at a premium, and
I'm not one for competition. Still trying to find some other avenue to best use my abilities,
and I'm always very grateful to have this fine spot as a space to keep my particular instrument
somewhat sharp!!

@Al The Royal Pain
Great idea, if impractical, as I'm no Rosie or Elvis, and I would really hate to see Patreon and sponsorship revenues go down due to my Spectrum-addled Mishegas (Yiddish for craziness/
eccentricities!). Plus, I'd be absolutely useless during sports-related episodes.